Perhaps the key insight is that "data by itself is useless. To extract value from it, you need the ‘three Ts’: talent, technique and transformation.

Talent. "When you start out, you don’t need the top experts to start making sense
of your data. You may just need people with curiosity, good statistical
skills and a desire to learn. These are the kind of people who will
quickly see how data can be managed and packaged to solve problems. And
once they do, they will want to get better at it."

Technique. "Big Data needn’t mean Big Complexity. ... [A]nalytical techniques
can be sophisticated, but it’s also possible to keep it simple –
especially at the start of the journey. Get the basics right first, and
then you can become more advanced as you get better at it."

Transformation. "Becoming a data-driven legal team – law firm or corporate – is a
journey. Change is slow, so don’t expect an overnight transformation.
The best approach is to bring the whole organisation with you - if
everyone from the partners and CEOs to the interns buy into your data
strategy, it will start delivering returns faster."

So who will be the big winners when it comes to Big Data? Definitely some start-ups become they they don't have to transform -- it's a clean sheet operation from the very beginning; they also have more patience and tolerance for trial and error. Yet, BigLaw is sitting on top of a lot of the essential data, so there will be some winners there too. To my mind, it will turn on the ability of some BigLaw shops to leverage talent and technique into some early victories that will aid the tranformation project. If it works, it will be a case study in strategic leadership and effective change management.

By the way, Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services is a sophisticated place. They own TyMetrix, which is the perhaps the best current example of BigData operating in the BigLaw ecosystem. TyMetrix's Real Rate Report is being used to agressively control lawyer billing rates.